What is Linux?

Linux is an Operating System, just like Microsoft Windows is an Operating System. You use it to run programs, and to be productive on your computer. The difference is, Linux is developed by a community of contributors, not by a single company, and it’s free.

Who are these contributors? Well, anyone can contribute, and you won’t know many of them, but there are some you likely will know:

• Google
• Intel
• Oracle
• AMD
• Meta
• NVIDIA
• IBM
• Microsoft

Development statistics for the 6.10 kernel

This is only a small list of well known companies that contribute to Linux. There are many more contributing to different parts of the Linux ecosystem, and using it to power their business.

Why use Linux?

Security

Now, you need to understand that the most important component of computing security is you, the user. No matter which operating system you use, it’s important that you become competent enough to contribute to protecting yourself. This is something that I can help you with.

When it comes to the security of Linux, the first thing to keep in mind is that many of the largest companies in the world rely on Linux being secure. The fact that they all can contribute, means you don’t have just one company working on its security. Instead, you have several, in addition to the many individual contributors.

It’s also important to note that Linux is targeted by a very small percentage of all malware. Whether this is due to the size of its install base, or because it’s more secure, or both, is a matter of debate.

What is important, is that when, for example, you receive a random email with a malicious attachment, it is unlikely to be targeted at Linux. Therefore, it will also be less likely to compromise your system, if you accidentally open it.

There are other security mechanisms, such as SELinux (which I won’t dive into here), which contributes to the security of Linux. Many Linux users consider some of these mechanisms difficult to understand, but in my opinion, they can be easily understood by anyone, at any level, if explained properly.

Privacy

I know that caring about privacy is out of fashion. However, if you’re like me, and do care, then Linux is the Operating System for you. You’ll find that in the Linux ecosystem, there is a culture of respecting the privacy of users. Linux contributors care about their own privacy, and that is reflected in the software they make.

It’s important to understand that Linux applications are by and large Open Source. This means that anyone can see the actual code used to create the application. So, the community doesn’t have to blindly trust that a privacy setting does what it says, they can verify it by looking at the code.

Control

Linux gives you a great deal of control over different aspects of the system. This may not be of great importance when you’re just starting out. However, as your knowledge grows, you’ll find that you’re able to modify many things to get the system the way you’d like.

Stability

Linux is known for its stability, which is one of the reasons it’s used so heavily in the cloud. Web Servers, Database Servers, and Desktops, all benefit from the stability of Linux. When you’re working on your computer, it’s important that the system doesn’t crash or become unresponsive.